Browser stops working after a while

Okay this issue has been banded around the internet for a while, but since we managed to solve the Vista "Black Screen with Documents folder" issue I am keen to see what we can do to solve this one.

Basically the issue is.

1. After a while of not using the web browser (or sometmes while using it), it stops working. The symptoms shown for me is that pictures will stop working first, then the pages wont load properly and finally not at all.

2. This does not effect peer to peer, MSN or online gaming.

3. It effects all browsers

There have been several theories as to why it happens but nothing seems to have solved it yet, not sure if a re-install of IE will do the trick, tweaking the register or something else will help so lets try as much of these as we can and see if we can get it sorted once and for all.

Here is what I have tried but has not worked:

1. Resetting Network Card (funnily enough even though I can peer to peer with this error, it wont allow me to access the router, does that help you guys understanding the issue?).

2. Powering down router

3. Deleting all web browsing history, add-ons etc.

Here is the only way it works for me currently.

By rebooting the PC.

Okay guys lets try to nail this one!

My first post here. I have spent many hours with the Dell help desk.They have replaced practically all my working parts. It still does the same thing. After the computer runs for awhile icons get burry and mixed up and if I hold my mouse over the bottom left or right corners of the bottom of the screen I get the message 'Windows Explorer is Restarting'. What to do?

Tom

I am seeing the same thing. I also see this commonly happen when I run an app that makes vista change it's color scheme and turn off Aero. This happens a lot with Firefox add-on PicLens.

I have exactly this problem too!

Some facts about this problem:
- IE and other browsers stop working for no obvious reason
- Not even local web servers can be reached (like 192.168.0.1)
- This can happen at any time, not correlated to any special program being used
- *Sometimes* (very seldom) it starts working again, after 5-30 minutes
- Microsoft Mail stops working at the same time.
- Windows Update stops working (it still finds new updates and say "There are new updates" and so on, but when trying to install then it bombs out with a 8-digit hexadecimal error code).
- The help text for the error code is wrong. It is not a dns problem or a connection problem.
- MSN/Windows Live Messenger stops working *sometimes* but not always
- I can still ping hosts on the internet, and DNS works just fine
- This happens on Vista (I have Vista Business)

What i have tried:
- Logging out and logging in again: does not solve the problem
- Disconnecting and reconnecting network: does not solve the problem
- Restarting router etc: does not solve the problem
- Disabling the windows firewall: does not solve the problem
- Disabling and enabling network interface: does not solve the problem
- Suspend/sleep mode and wake up again: does not solve the problem
- Stopping and restarting all "network"-ish services: does not solve the problem

What works?
- Reboot. Nothing else.

What this is NOT:
- This is not a router problem/external network problem
- This is not a DNS problem (not external, not internal)
- This is not a network adapter driver problem
- This is not a hardware problem
- This is not a bug in IE
- This is not a bug in the DNS cache service

So, what is this?
- This is a bug in Vista. A very annoying one!

If someone at M$ reads this, then PLEASE do something about this.
I am thinking about deleting Vista and installing XP or something. This is just to sucky.

Hi, I still say run anti-spyware and anti-virus and see if any bugs are present Don't just try one utility though, one may pick something up where another won't.
I've run vista for a year now and never come across this 'bug'.
Another thing you could try is updating the 'firmware' on your router...

Originally Posted by kemical

Hi, I still say run anti-spyware and anti-virus and see if any bugs are present Don't just try one utility though, one may pick something up where another won't.

Yes. Me is teh knows. Now send d0nutz pleese.

Originally Posted by kemical

I've run vista for a year now and never come across this 'bug'.

As you may or may not be aware of, there are lots of bugs in Vista, and some of them only show up in "corner cases" or in some configurations and so on, and are not experienced by everybody.
For example, it sometimes deletes another file (or more file(s)) than the one you specify. This is in part due to the double names on files and folders (Example, just off the top of my head: Vista non-english version: "Program" aka "Program Files", and "Program Files" aka "someAutoGeneratedFilename". Now try to delete "Program" folder. You will not be happy with the results, and you will not understand what happened until you dig deep, using the 'black window' (cmd), and finally find out what Vista does to your files 'under the hood').

Originally Posted by kemical

Another thing you could try is updating the 'firmware' on your router...

Please re-read my post, section "What this is NOT".

Is that enough donutz for ya?

Hi Magmatrix

You do not appear to be suffering from a minor glitch or bug as you should have been able to find a solution by now.
As you have tried most of the suggestions that we were likely to come up with, perhaps the problem is with your rig and how you are using it and not with the OS.
If there are so many "bugs" in Vista, why have myself among many others not been effected by any?????????

I was having this problem and I eventually figured out that my anti-spyware program, Spyware Doctor, was causing it. It seized something in my browser and wouldn't allow the process to terminate. When I closed that program, the browser process I was observing in Task Manager closed with it. Since removing Spyware Doctor from my startup, I no longer experience problems with my browser.

Nzealander and magmatrix,
Have you found a solution? I have the very same problem on a recent install of Vista Business.

The strange thing is that it affects only browsers, in my case both IE and Firefox. I can use Windows Live Messenger with no issues, even the advertising box on the bottom receives updates. I can also ping and resolve any domain but through the browsers I cannot reach any site until I reboot and then I might be good for an hour or so.

I don't think there is any problems with my rig. The only things on my system at the time the problem started were Firefox, avast antivirus, Spybot S&D, Windows Live Messenger and the Windows updates including SP1. And I don't have Internet Connection Sharing enabled so the fix from M$'s site wouldn't work for me. I have disabled the antivirus but that didn't work. Resetting the connection doesn't work.